Underlying Melodies
by MythGirl Writes
Summary: Song of Life-verse one shots! Requests from my blog that depict events through the characters' lives.
1. Aunt Tsumugi

**Anon asked: Song of Life prompt! For some reason, Tadaaki, Hikari, and especially Mei always get a weird feeling when their 'aunt' Tsumugi comes around to babysit. Mei doesn't know why, but she always feels a dangerous aura of sorts around the Ultimate Cosplayer... It's nothing, right...?**

**Welcome to Underlying Melodies, where I take what were technically supposed to be headcanon prompts and turn them into flash fanfiction (meaning each is 1000 words) because I have no chill. Enjoy!**

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"Thanks for watching the kids," Kaede said as she shouldered her purse. Mei watched from around the corner; she knew that her mom was going out with her dads and aunts and uncles. That was why someone else was babysitting her and Hikari and Tadaaki. They were sitting down in the living room already; Hikari was teaching Tadaaki how to play one of their favorite video games, but Mei wanted to keep an eye on her mom right up until she left.

"It's no problem at all!" Tsumugi said with a smile. Mei had only met her on a few occasions, since Tsumugi lived a little further off than her other honorary aunts and uncles. Still, all of their parents must trust her enough to watch them.

...But for some reason, Mei just couldn't. There was always something off about Tsumugi, but she couldn't put her finger on what. Her ten-year-old brain couldn't quite comprehend it, as much as she tried.

"Mei, c'mon, we're getting to the good part!" Hikari called from the living room. Mei stiffened as Kaede and Tsumugi turned to look at her in her "hiding place."

Kaede smiled over at her. "Be good for Tsumugi, alright? I'll be home in a few hours." Mei watched her leave, watched Tsumugi close the door behind her and wave through the window.

Mei didn't wait for Tsumugi to turn back before going into the living room and joining Hikari and Tadaaki. "You guys don't think there's anything strange about her? Like, at all?"

Hikari pauses the game with a sigh. "Our parents trust her, so she must be alright. Otherwise they wouldn't leave us alone with her, duh. C'mon, Tadaaki's just getting the hang of this."

"Fine. Pass me a controller." Tadaaki did so happily- well, not passed so much as _thrown_\- but Mei still caught it easily. She was used to him throwing things at her by now. _Seven year olds and their energy. So tiring._

Even above the video game's music, she could hear Tsumugi working nearby on her laptop. Mei had no idea what she did for a job, but somehow the sound was menacing even though she's heard her own mother respond to many emails at a time, which produced the same sound. It was strange how the same sound could feel so different.

Hikari and Tadaaki obviously weren't on the same page as her. She kept a sharp eye on Tsumugi, even if that meant losing the game and angering Hikari, since that eventually brought their entire team down. After a few rounds of this, Hikari paused the game and looked over at her in annoyance. "Maybe we should watch a movie instead?" Nothing in her tone was accusatory; it was just the way she looked at Mei, like Mei had made them lose on purpose.

"_Megamind!_" Tadaaki voted immediately, something Mei could get on board with. _Megamind_ was one of her favorite movies. "Aunt Tsumugi, watch with us!"

"I'll be right in there!" Tsumugi responded, a smile evident in her voice. Mei frowned at it. She didn't like that nobody was taking her seriously about this.

Mei flicked his arm. "What did you do that for?" she hissed, stealing a cautious glance at Tsumugi.

He rubbed his arm, only slightly annoyed. "Being nice. Didn't Aunt Kaede teach you that?"

Hikari rolled her eyes and sat between them. "Shush. Let's just watch the movie." She pressed play on the remote, having already set it up.

It made it hard for Mei to concentrate on the movie with Tsumugi right there next to her. Every time Tsumugi shifted, Mei took a moment to look at her through the corner of her eye. There was no way that Tsumugi was just enjoying this. She had to be up to something, didn't she?

By the time she was able to relax a little more, the movie was already mostly over. It wasn't too late, only about eight o'clock, and Kaede usually let Mei stay up until she got home anyway. Tadaaki, on the other hand, was already starting to crash a bit. He was barely watching the movie either, just snuggled under a blanket with his eyes half-lidded. _Kids._

Hikari, on the other hand, was totally invested; as was Tsumugi. Mei never understood this part of the movie, when the redhead dude just went all mean because the girl didn't want to date him. She never really got why it was such a big deal. Either way, it was her least favorite part, so she supposed she could spare her attention to monitoring Tsumugi. Who, really, was doing nothing but watching the movie. That was almost more boring than the scene.

"Can we have cookies?" she asked after a minute, hoping that would wake Tadaaki up. She needed to prove her feelings to both him and Hikari at the same time, otherwise the effect was all for naught. "There's some on the counter."

"Sounds alright by me." Mei watched, still as a statue, as she got up and went into the kitchen. She shifted so she was watching Tsumugi instead of the movie, to which Hikari sighed and shook her head. That dangerous aura wasn't around Mei as much now that Tsumugi wasn't next to her, which surely meant that she was the source of it. There was no way she wasn't!

"You seriously need to stop," Hikari whispered, punching Mei's shoulder. "Aunt Tsumugi is a good person. She's not dangerous. Just let it go and enjoy the night, okay?"

Mei gave her the stink eye before returning her gaze to Tsumugi anyway. Sure, what Hikari said was logical, but she was certain that she was right. All she needed to do was keep an eye out for as long as it took, just to prove herself right. She might be young, but at least she knew that a feeling like this wasn't nothing. It had to mean something.


	2. The Talk

**Anon asked: ****Song of Life Headcanon/Prompt: Miu, despite her lewdness, dreads the day she has to give "The Talk" to Hikari. Unfortunately for her, one day while Kirumi is out of town on a trip, her baby girl finally pops the question: "Where do babies come from, mommy?"**

**The title says it all here :)**

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Miu and Kirumi talked a lot about how they would give the infamous talk to Hikari. After all, they knew well that it was so much more than "when a mommy and daddy fall in love…" It all depended on the couple and their circumstances. For example, they adopted because that was the best course of action for them.

Never in all of her years did Miu want to have this talk. Yeah, she was kinda lewd all throughout her high school and college years, but she'd mellowed out! ...For the most part. She just didn't want to discuss it with her daughter. The prospect scared her a bit; it would be a testament to how much she'd grown up in such little time. Miu was hoping that if she ever had the talk, Kirumi would be there as well. She was much more articulate with these kinds of things.

Unfortunately, she couldn't be that lucky. "Mama, where do babies come from?"

Miu almost cut herself cutting the crusts off of a peanut butter sandwich for Hikari's lunch the next day. "W-what? Where did this come from?"

Hikari leaned against the counter and shrugged, kicking one of her feet against it lightly. "One of the girls in my class is getting a baby in her family soon and she said that the stork didn't bring them, so I was just curious."

Drat, there went her first answer. Miu set down the knife. "Okay, um, why don't you ask your mother?"

"She's not home. Don't you remember? She left a couple hours ago for that trip thing."

_Damn._ How could she forget that? "Okay. Okay. Take a seat on the couch and I'll be right there." Hikari nodded and ran off, her braids flying behind her. Miu had done those this morning; even though she was eleven, Hikari didn't really know how to braid.

Oh lord, Hikari was only eleven. Miu couldn't give her the full-blown talk, not yet. She was still too young. But she knew well enough that Miu couldn't pull a fast one on her. Why did Hikari have to be so smart?

She tried stalling as long as she could, but she knew she couldn't for long. The one time Kirumi was out of the house, of course. Just her luck, a punishment for her past lewdness, no doubt. Not that this was going to stop her from doing it in the future.

"So, you want to know where babies come from?" She was sure that her voice was pitched about an octave higher than usual; she just hoped that Hikari wouldn't be able to tell. Hikari nodded earnestly. "Well, it really depends on the family. Like if you look at Aunt Maki and Uncle Kaito, they love each other and had for a really long time, and decided together to have Tadaaki. Aunt Kaede and Mei are a much more complicated situation, which I'm sure Mei will tell you more about when you're both older. But you know the story with you, don't you?"

She nodded solemnly. "You and Mom love each other a whole lot but couldn't have me on your own, so you adopted me."

"That's right, and we both love you so, so much." She wrapped her arms around Hikari, who squealed a little. "So where babies come from depends on the family, see?"

Hikari took a moment before nodding. "Yeah, but where do they actually come from?"

Shoot. She thought she was off the hook. "I'll tell you when you're older?" One look at Hikari's face told her that that answer was not an acceptable one. She shifted uncomfortably, taking her arms back so her hands could fidget in her lap. "Look, I'm not good at all this. Maybe you could just wait for your mother to get back from her trip?"

Hikari made another face, her tongue sticking out slightly. "I already tried. She said she'd tell me when I'm older and then when I asked again she said to ask you."

Did she now. Even though they'd agreed that they would do it together. And then she went out of town. Why did this feel like a plan to have her deal with it? Kirumi was supposed to be the responsible one of them!

"How about we wait until she gets home, anyway? That way we can tell you together. In the meantime, how about I help you finish your homework, and if we have time, we can kick the ball around a bit outside?"

Hikari considered this for a moment before nodding and smiling. "You're not getting out of this, though. I won't stop asking until I get an answer." She didn't have to say "a good answer" for it to be heard. She stood up and went back to her room, where Miu was sure her homework was waiting. Honestly, Hikari probably wouldn't even need any help. That girl was a smart cookie, which was also why she was a bit worried to tell her about where babies come from.

Oh. Wait.

Miu walked into Hikari's room just in time to see her logging into the laptop the three of them shared. "Now what do you think you're doing, missy?" she asked, crossing her arms. She did her best to put on a no-nonsense face.

"Nothing. Homework." Of all the things Hikari was, a good liar was not exactly one of them. Which, Miu supposed, was good for her.

"No need to look this up. You have my word that we'll discuss this soon, okay? Trust me, you don't want to see what the internet has to say about it."

Hikari deflated a little bit, but nodded. "Fine." She closed the laptop and handed it over to Miu, who had her hand held out. "I'm almost done with my homework, so be sure you have your sneakers on!"

Miu chuckled, the confiscated laptop under her arm. "You've got yourself a deal. I won't go easy on you, though."


	3. Cloned

**Anon asked: ****Song of Life AU: Hikari totally steals some of Miu's inventions from time to time in order to get out of doing something. Ex. cloning herself to go to school while she ditches to go watch a new movie.**

**Sorry this took so long! I can't even remember when this was asked**

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Hikari never let anyone know that she had a single mischievous bone in her body. If they knew- especially if her _moms_ knew- she would be under near constant surveillance. She was known among her friends for being smart, and naturally she was good with sports. Blend being mischievous into that and she'd be unstoppable. Which was why she could never let anyone know.

So instead, she kept it hidden. She was polite, only made a couple of innocent jokes. Not even Mei had any idea, and they were as close as close could be! She was fine keeping it that way. At least, she was at the beginning. When her mom made a cloning machine, she knew it was all over.

"Are you ever gonna show me how that works?" she asked one afternoon, dropping her bag in her room after soccer practice. She had to pass her mom's workspace in order to get to her room, so naturally she was curious. There wasn't a time she couldn't remember being curious about what her mom did. Science was just as much her thing as it was her mom's.

"Not until you're an adult." The same response she'd gotten the last few times she'd asked. It was even the response her mother gave her when she asked! Of course they were on the same page, but seven years was too long to wait. She wanted to know how it worked, and maybe use it on her own. Her mom straightened up, using a rag to clean some oil off of her fingertips. "This is really delicate stuff, so even I need to be careful around it. Something like this could change the world- for better or for worse."

That ominous of a warning only made her want to try it even more.

Hm.

It was a week after that when her moms both weren't home. That in and of itself was a rarity, coupled with the fact that her mom accidentally left her workspace unlocked. Hikari tried to ignore the cloning machine calling to her, but her fingers were itching to turn the knob of the door, to walk in and figure out how to use the machine. She'd need to be stealthy about it; maybe she could nab a pair of her mother's gloves while she was at it, so she wouldn't leave fingerprints.

Wow, once she started, she really didn't stop.

It took her about ten minutes to figure out how it worked and set it up with her own DNA. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it would work, while thinking of everything she could do with her clone. Her clone could go to school or do chores while she went out with Mei and Tadaaki, maybe to a movie in the middle of the day while she should be in class. The machine whirred to life, and slowly, slowly, she saw her clone being built in front of her.

Her clone blinked at her with the same eyes, still as short as she was. "I'm...you?" were the first words out of her mouth, the same tone and lilt as her own voice. It was almost scary enough for her to pull the plug on the machine, but she wouldn't do that to her mom's invention. That would just be cruel beyond measure.

"That's right. You know your name?" Surprisingly, the clone nodded, shifting her hair so it settled behind her shoulders. Hikari rubbed her hands together, perhaps a bit of mad scientist slipping into her. "Great. We can get right to work."

The clone perked up. "Math or science first?"

Hikari laughed. This clone really did think just like her. "Not homework just yet. I have to make some plans first, alright? We can't let our moms see both of us at the same time, you know? They'd freak that I used Mom's machine without her permission."

"Why'd you do it, then? You don't want to get in trouble." A fair point, she supposed, but she just shook her head and winked. "Alrighty, show me what you want me to do!"

Her moms both came home a couple hours later. Hikari had already made sure to clean any evidence from the cloning machine, on the off chance her mom would look hard enough to know it had been used. Her mother was making dinner, so she and her clone were alone in her room, going through what her clone did and didn't know. "Maybe you want your first solo assignment for dinner? See if they know anything's up?"

Her clone thought about it for a second. "I think I'm up for it. It would be my first meal with them." She seemed a little excited at the prospect, bouncing a little in her spot on the bed. Hikari blinked, and suddenly she was gone- followed quickly by a string of curses from her mom's workspace.

"Miu? What's wrong?" her mother said, already en route to the room like Hikari was. Her mom was standing a couple feet away from the cloning machine, something wet dripping on the ground, as well as...broken glass? How had she not heard that?

"I may or may not have just destroyed my greatest invention by being thirsty," her mom whined, already getting onto her knees to pick up the larger shards of glass. She didn't have to worry about being cut, mostly, thanks to her faux-leather gloves. "Stupid glass, stupid water…" Hikari knew that she was holding back more curses now that she was in the room and listening.

"Can you save the machine?" she asked, worried. Her clone had just blinked out of existence! She didn't even know that could happen!

Her mom slowly shook her head. "I was starting to think it wasn't the best idea anyway. Genius, absolutely, but not now." She shrugged. "Maybe sometime in the distant future, I'll try again."

Hikari sighed to herself. She'd have to try again next time.


End file.
